The art and science of chiropractic is directed to a system or practice of adjusting the joints, especially of the spine, for the curing of disease. Subluxations, or misalignments, of the vertebrae of the spine create abnormal conditions which reduce the capability of the body to function in proper manner. Subluxations occlude neural spaces of the spine and possess the capability of causing nerve interference. Subluxation is the condition of a vertebrae that has lost its proper juxtaposition with the one above or the one below it, or both, which impinges nerves and interferes with the transmission of mental impulses. Therefore, it is an object of chiropractic to correct subluxations, or misalignments, of the spine by the application of force to realign the vertebrae.
There are four functioning units of the spine, the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacro-coccygeal sections, which interact with one another in normal functioning. The cervical spine as a functioning unit includes the occiput, the seven cervical vertebrae, and the first two dorsal vertebrae, commonly known as the normal cervical lordosis. In correcting subluxations of the cervical spine, it is a known practice in chiropractic to apply an external, specifically directed force to the transverse process of the atlas, or top vertebra, of the cervical spine which is transmitted through all of the vertebra of the functional cervical spine to produce realignment. One prior known method of application of such force has been accomplished by the use of a cervical adjusting unit comprising a patient support table having an adjustable headpiece on which a patient is placed in a desired position for introduction of the force. Such a device is understood to be exemplified by Pettibon U.S. Pat. No. Des. 223,419. The force is applied to the desired vertebra by means of a mechanical apparatus having a metal rod, or stylus, the point of which is positioned in a precise location against the desired vertebra of the patient's cervical spine and caused to move through a precise distance in a specific direction, thus transmitting the point force into the cervical spine for correction of subluxations which may be present at a given location in the functional cervical spine.